A Titled Demon

I could not tell what blessings the other players actually received because I did not receive any notification other than 'then I shall give them hope' but it was clear that they became much stronger in an instant as well as they skills were refreshed.

Their numbers which had started dwindling suddenly unleashed a flurry of various skills that crossed the distance and impacted heavily on the walls. Demons that previous fell in small numbers every few seconds suddenly toppled from the wall like loose stones while the wall itself crumbled to half its original height in some places.

Under the sudden pressure of these attacks the demons were suddenly halted and dazed, only a few dozens of them managing to retaliate as the players rushed forward. The players were also healing at surprising speeds, recovering most of their HP while running forward despite the scattering of attacks still landing around them.

I doubted that this would be enough to actually help them take the outpost since they were basically half the numbers of our alliance. Not just their numbers but even their gear was of a much lower quality. Duality and Thirteenth Incorporated had all been supplied with some weapons and materials from my group before the level restriction, making them more heavily outfitted than most of the other clans even before the recent equipment upgrade.

Turning away even as the players from the other clans make it to the wall, I head back down to the ground below. I could already imagine how their siege would turn out and could only resign myself to waiting for them to respawn. With the help of my blessing, at least, they would all gain much more experience than they lost.

Of course, that was without considering the losses they incurred by trying to fight the skeletons.

Landing at the front of the cathedral, I decided to spend my time preparing for the other clans to respawn by preparing some basic supplies. Because of the level restrictions I could only make some simple poles of black crystal to act as the base for chaos lances. The other clans would have to actually make the weapons themselves in order to use them, though.

It only took a few minutes to make a hundred poles and by then there was a large crowd of dazed and confused players gathered together outside the gates of the cathedral. I had never actually seen anyone respawn in the dungeon so I was somewhat confused. The others had said they respawned IN the cathedral, which was probably a sign of their affiliation with the NPC here.

Without that affiliation, they were forced to come back to life outside the cathedral wall. It was literally like they had been shunned by the gods themselves for their actions. I honestly could not help but feel bad for all of them as I bundles the hundred crystalline poles together with cordycep silk and carried them out to the other clans.

"You failed," I state simply after coming out of the cathedral, tossing the bundle of poles on the ground before them. "The skeletons will not likely approve of you, which is why you respawned out here instead of in the safety of the cathedral. However, we're all players- or Travelers, to them- so I won't simply turn my back on you. Take these and craft weapons for yourselves and try again, maybe, after a few outposts, the NPC will approve of you."

Turning away without waiting for a reply, I walk back into the cathedral property and telekinetically close the gates behind me. I could hear the other players complaining at first as I walked away, but once they actually started looking at the pile or 'Chaos Soul Staff' weapons and their specs, their complaints soon became exclamations of surprise.

Being the person who made them, I already knew how valuable they were compared to the usual weapons on the player markets and that they were like a top shelf liquor to the other clans. If they knew how powerful the weapons could actually become with proper crafting and enchanting, they will probably shit themselves.

Returning to the back yard to collect my team and the other clan leaders. After everybody had safely ended their cultivation, I say, "The other clans failed their outpost but they're prepping for a second try. While they're doing their attack, we'll do ours. Get ready."

The other clans had already left by the time our forces were gathered in the front yard of the cathedral and started heading out. However, there was a group of several hundred skeletons armed with an assortment of melee weapons and several chaos lances apiece waiting for us by the gate. Standing at the front of this group was the head priest, patiently waiting.

The head priest skeleton's voice whispered in my head, "My people and I are ready to fight. Take us with you."

Shaking my head quickly, I say, "No can do, sir. You guys are our ace in the hole, a trump card I don't want to play until we absolutely have to. The outposts are nearly half gone and the demons will probably stop their passivity in just a few battles. They will probably attack us here or wait until we Travelers are out fighting before running around us to attack the cathedral. We need you guys here to show them the error of their ways."

"There are so many of us here, is that truly necessary?" The head priests asks suddenly, actually tilting his head in curious confusion while looking around at my much smaller gathering of players which was dwarfed by his gathering of skeletons. "Even if you only brought as much of us as yourselves, would that not leave plenty to protect the cathedral?"

Frowning a little while considering how to put this, I say, "You're underestimating the demons and chaos fiends. The demons that originally attacked us here were all the weakest of their numbers and there were no leaders. They had a single plan of attack and followed it to their deaths. With a single leader, they would have been twice as troublesome. If a leader and even stronger demons attacked while we were away, it's likely there may not be enough of you here to begin with."

More to the point, we do not really get any experience when you guys kill the demons. Last fight I only went up two levels even though there were a few thousand demons and each of them were worth a couple hundred experience. I was only level ninety-three and my weapons had level restrictions much higher than that!

Nodding slowly as if appreciating this information, the head priest skeleton finally gives in and says, "Then, I shall trust your judgment. With Zekrom here, we should be able to hold out against such odds. However, if the other warriors return while you are away then what should we do?"

Half of my MP was spent in roughly a minute producing another hundred poles on the ground off to the side, simply spitting them out of a single hand at an exhausting speed. "If they succeed, give them these and tell them to keep working. They are under the impression that they can earn your respect with such shows of sincerity so make them work for all their worth before you let them enter the cathedral again."

"As you say," the head priest acknowledges, stepping aside. As if on cue, the few hundred skeletons gathered at the gate parted like a small sea to let us players through "Your victories are all but assured, but we wish you the best of luck regardless."

Nodding my head lowly to the head priest skeleton as the other players start forward toward the gate, I say, "Thank you for understanding. Soon, we will be ready to attempt the manor. At that time, we will be relying on you and your greater numbers."

Leaving the cathedral with the others after those few words, I return to the front lines with my party and the elites of the other clans before setting the pace at a brisk march. Even though the other clans were less in number they half already heavily damaged the outpost they were tackling in their previous attempt and thus we would only have so much time to work in relative privacy. We needed to move quickly to capture another boss and even its underlings.

Unlike the previous outposts, this sixth outpost that we were attacking seemed better prepared and committed than the others previously. Instead of waiting at their walls or reserving their forces, all of the demons in the outpost were gathered on the open ground outside their walls in long ranks like an army awaiting the march.

I could tell that this was all of the demons in the outpost because even the commander was present, looking like a classical demon with a giant black body standing nearly twenty feet tall with long reptilian scaled limbs and a massive forked tails flicking back and forth behind them. From its back grew large skeletal wings without feathers of membranes, just dark ivory bones that fluidly moved as if perpetually flapping without any lift.

The demon's head was humanoid with a pair of upward curling ram horns rising from above its ears. Its eyes were as big as a normal person's head and were solid red orbs not unlike Orion's. Instead of a mouth that split its face down the middle it had a normal mouth above its chin that was currently split broadly in a savagely happy grin that revealed hundreds of large silvery fangs.

Above its mouth was a low of reptilian pits like a viper's heat sensors in place of a nose. Above its head was the tag 'Stronghold Commander Traytar The Defiler LVL210'

Just looking at this monstrosity was enough to instill a vague sense of shiver-inducing fear that left one dazed and wondering. I could tell from the reactions of many players around me that they were terrified at the sight of this true demon, probably affected by some kind of natural deterrence ability. Luckily, I and most of my party had the Undaunted or Dauntless titles which protected us from the psychological effects of such an enemy.

"How are we going to do this one?" Stonewall asks while sizing up the demon commander. "That thing's going to pack a lot of punch and it won't be pretty."

Unsheathing my swords as one before dividing them between my hands, I frown as I wonder at just how powerful this titled demon really was. Not even Orion had a title and he was my second toughest fight after the original Trollbone. This guy was definitely bad new.

My first thoughts were to say that we would attack him as a group while the other players and our familiars dealt with the rest of his army. However, the army was made up almost entirely of just chimera and Taurian demons with two front lines of giant bone fiends. After using our chaos lances to clear the bone fiends away, the other clans would be hard pressed to fight the demons by themselves.

"I'll see how much time I can buy," I reply while growing out my defensive outer layers as well as my hulk form. "Once I get their boss out of the way, get in there and get busy. I doubt I'll die but that thing has the highest level and biggest body of anything we've had to fight. This is definitely going to be a fun one."

Word quickly spread out across the front line of players who quickly took up a scattered formation while I walked ahead, more to distribute the damage of our lances more than to minimize the damage of incoming attacks. In my hulk form my swords felt oddly small. Their hilts were still the same length but were now half as big around so they felt oddly loose and almost clumsy in my giant bladed hands.

Starting forward in response to my approach, Traytar singles himself out from his army as we both start moving faster and faster. As usual, we had maintained a relatively safe distance of a hundred yards away from the demon army but that football field of distance swiftly narrowed down to nothing at all.

Roaring loudly with enough raw volume to shake a bolts loose from a car, Traytar spread their wings and lunged across the last thirty yards as if taking a small hop forward. Separating my upper body, I unleash a multitude of roars with the same volume all compiled together as I infused lightning with my body to increase my speed and explosive strength.

A split second later, I felt a powerful force slam into my chest with a sound like shattering glass as my outer layer of defenses cracked apart and I was thrown over a dozen yards backward with a loss of twenty percent of my health. Despite this, though, there was a long chain of electricity arcing between the demon commander and I which I used to flash forward with a thrust of either sword in my hands.

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